Regina Mills/After Second Curse
With Mary Margaret going into labor, she is taken into a hospital delivery room while Regina and Emma enact a protective spell. Emma and Hook go to deal with Zelena at the farmhouse, but the savior is forced to give up her magic to save the pirate's life. Thus, the barrier around the delivery room fades. Regina, as the last line of defense, stands in Zelena's way, but is quickly overpowered by her sister, who proceeds to steal the newborn infant for a time spell. Persuaded by both Henry and Robin Hood that she is capable of light magic, Regina uses it to defeat Zelena once and for all. She rips off Zelena's pendant; stripping her of magic. Rather than allow a freed Mr. Gold to kill Zelena, Regina seizes the dagger to compel him to stop while she spares her life. After imprisoning her sister in a cell, Regina reasons that they've both suffered as Cora's daughters and by having lives they didn't want. She also knows what it's like to be fueled by vengeance and gives Zelena a second chance to reshape a better future for herself. Later, Regina delivers the dagger into Belle's hands for safekeeping. Unseen to Regina, Mr. Gold later kills Zelena; accidentally triggering magic in her pendant, which activates the time spell. After regaining her heart, Regina and Robin Hood spend some time at her house. She shares how her past love, Daniel, died at the hands of her mother, and he sympathetically talks about having lost his wife, Marian. Regina opens up about seeing him in the tavern years ago in the Enchanted Forest after Tinker Bell used pixie dust to give her another chance at love, but admits she was too scared to approach him. Robin Hood regards their romance in the present as something that was destined to happen. In a diner celebration welcoming David and Mary Margaret's newborn son, Regina overhears Hook imply that Emma intends to leave town. When questioned by Regina, Emma refuses to talk and leaves. While Hook follows to talk some sense into her, Regina and the others notice a stream of light radiating to the sky—Zelena's time spell. In an investigation, Zelena is discovered missing from the jail cell. Once David turns on the security tape, Regina watches with disbelief as the footage shows Zelena used magic, despite that she didn't have her pendant, to turn herself into a statue, which breaks and dissipates into powder. For the time being, they decide to leave the time portal untouched, but Emma and Hook accidentally travel through it to the past to recreate a meeting between Prince Charming and Snow White and then return to the present. During the evening, Regina and Robin Hood take Roland to the diner. Emma explains to Regina that she brought someone back from the past, and hopes a reintroduction will help the person see that she isn't the Evil Queen anymore. As Regina meets the stranger, Marian, she is stunned that Robin Hood recognizes her as his deceased wife, and Roland calls this woman his mother. With her happiness shattered by the family reunion, Regina angrily berates Emma for being just like her mother by not thinking about the consequences of her actions.